Libertarian "paradise" world found by the Alliance. Probably called "Freedom" or something similar. -- Anon Guest
Imagine a world where there is no need for government or law, because the only rule is that of righteous morality. Laws come from God, as was intended by the Good Word. All that is right is moral and all that is moral is right. It's all about the fundamental rights of man.
Everyone else can suck it.
The strong rule the weak. It's the way things have to be because that's the only way the strong can become stronger. For the greater good of the next generation, so they can be even stronger. Those who have the right smarts, the right morals, and the right amount of motivation can get ahead, and anyone left out of that group gets what they deserve.
It is a world of harsh punishments rather than genuine efforts to help. Where fear of reprisal is all that keeps any soul motivated to keep moving. Work harder, and you might make it. Don't wait for your ship to come in, go out and plunder! And don't get caught because then you die in chains. The hand on top only reaches down so they can pour shit on your face.
Welcome to Emancipation, home of the highest slave population in the known universe. Where Hope is a name for girls and true freedom is for the few who deserve it. How can anyone tell who deserves it? Because they can afford to be free.
Here, like other Deregulations, the "free market" reigns supreme. Like all other things on any other Deregulation, nothing is as free as they say it is.
Dar was a scrapper. They eked out an existence in the minmalistic grey areas of Emancipation law. They got their education by promising to join the Milicops[1] and a life on the streets by being too physically unfit to actually overpower anyone. They were also debatably too smart for their own good. Now they run a junkyard, on which they have created something of an inventor's workshop.
In a way, the breathing disorder caused by the toxic dump near their elementary school may have saved their life. So far.
What they're working on now is something controversial. Something lifesaving. Something that could help so many other kids like them. Something to help others without profit in mind. Heresy, as far as the greater overall morals of Emancipation was concerned.
Dar had license to disassemble anything they came across and use those parts for other purposes. The assumption was that they were selling anything they could get for a profit. That was true, but they were also investigating what they could not sell, the properties thereof, and the unwritten potential.
The still, investigated multiple times by the milicops, was not just creating alcohol. That was interestingly legal. What wasn't legal was creating pure water, because that infringed on the proprietary rights of H-Two-Go, the company that had all the water rights in Emancipation. Every man had the right to drink what he wanted, and face the consequences afterwards.
Dar had a lot of chemistry on show for their microbrewery and for their salvage business. It helped hide a lot. Like the chemistry involved in what they were making now.
Start with a clear face mask, the disposable kind used by the hospitals for disease containment. They could be cleaned with pure alcohol and used again, but that was too expensive for the workhouses to employ. It had a fitting on the bottom for the oxygen tube, but those never found their way to the dump before they were unusable.
Dar had learned that filters from any machine were washable. All they had to do was figure out how to hook a filter to the mask and the kids would no longer get half their lungs melted just by going to school. It was necessary. It was needed. It was for the greater good.
It was also unprofitable, since the dregs promising military service for an education weren't valued assets to begin with. Why bother looking after the chaff? Most of them were likely to die in food riots anyway.
The correlation continues to escape the Righteous Mighty of Emancipation.
Dar had kids working for them, and a bit more safety equipment than strictly necessary. The milicops who visited for attempted busts often chided Dar for "coddling" them. To which Dar had one good response. "You want future trainees with missing fingers and half-melted lungs?"
The milicop bailing them up snarled as Dar coughed. Statistics for viable recruits had not been as heartening as it could have been. Therefore the troop let the 'coddling' slide. They did knock over a few things because they were milicops and they had to let the less enlightened know that they were there for everyone's protection.
They didn't find Dar's work on the masks. They had hidden it well. There was a concealed workshop in the middle of what appeared to be junked car parts. Open the right door, and there were entire tunnels of workspaces dedicated to solving problems that nobody in charge wanted to touch.
Dar waited until they had all gone on to other business before ducking down to where some of the Illegals were farming nutrients. There was a lot those kids could do with spores, molds, and fungus. Dar had to be on their collective asses about wearing their PPE so they didn't get mushrooms growing out of their throats.
...and speaking of PPE... Pip had a functioning prototype. "It's plumbing! Three-quarter pipe an' hot glue an' it sticks right on so's you can replace."
"And the rest of the tube?"
"Just ol' Tubing that ain't got holes." Pip showed the black rubber. It was from the inside of a bike tyre. "We washed it out good like you said."
"I'll test it out today, good work."
"Annie Springles says it's good. But I tole her she gotta wait for you."
Annie Springles? Her? "Have you found a new friend, Pip?" Dar was already donning the kludged personal filter, making sure it fit right and they could move. "Can I meet her?" Some of the kids fell for shady players who ripped them off by pretending to be good people. Pip was better at judging the sketchy from a standing start, but here in the grey zone, it helped to be paranoid.
Pip lead them to an offworlder who had also disguised her vessel under a pile of garbage. Annie Sprinkles was tall and buff, even without the extra outline of the livesuit to bulk her up. Her nameplate read ANI and the livesuit was patterned with many brightly-coloured dots.
Dar automatically shoved Pip behind them. The news had a lot of things to say about offworlders and what they were after. Even though they knew the news lied about a lot of things, it was hard to ignore the only facts they knew.
"Oh good. It works," chirped Ani. "I was a little worried about the seals, but given your available materials, I think ninety-nine percent is the best we can do."
She had a clear faceplate and a friendly face, but Dar had confronted many a murderer with a friendly face. "You helped Pip make this?"
"Yeah. Kid just needed a few pointers. Real creative with the wire. You're working on the air pollution problem, right?"
"Why?" said Dar. "Why do you want to help? I know what happens here. I either get smacked down or bought out. Why are you helping us?"
"Because you know this and you're still working on it. You were going to spread the word underground, right. Don't let the bosses see this, kind of thing?"
"Yeah? So?"
"You know what people need. And there's something your leaders need to learn in order to save this world from its own ruin."
Well. Getting ahead of the Righteous Mighty could lean towards profit. "And what's that?"
Ani offered her hand. "No man is an island."
[1] Emancipation fights for peace with orbital nukes if necessary. Thus, they've streamlined the differences between the army -er- "peacekeeping forces" and the police by making them one organisation. If it's good for the budget, it's good for you.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Antartis]
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